If only for the performance by the sublime Madeline Kahn as the incestuous sister Sigrid, this short gem should be required viewing. I would love to see it again, but it seems to be completely unavailable. In 15 minutes, Coe sends up every Bergman mannerism in Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, Smiles of a Summer Night and others. Spoken in a hilarious mock-Swedish, with sly English subtitles. this picture is truly one of a kind. Who can forget Kahn, puffing on a huge cigar, offering it to her brother with the words: "Fol-lee-ken seem-bowl?" (Subtitle: "Would you like a puff?") Everything about this picture is original and wackily hilarious. If only it were not so hard to see.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Playing for Time
(1980 TV Movie)
An astonishing masterpiece
11 November 2004
It is amazing to me that this film is pretty much unavailable in any format.
What a cast. Vanessa Redgrave. Jane Alexander. Marisa Berenson. Verna Bloom. Melanie Mayron. And a subtle and evocative script by none other than Arthur Miller.
A summary of it sounds unpleasant and harrowing and to a certain extent it is. But there is extraordinary beauty in this daring and unusual picture. A group of women, all musicians, are allowed by the Nazis to remain alive on the condition that they amuse their captors with music.
It simply must be seen, and will never be forgotten. See this picture any way you can. I am sure that in time it will be rediscovered and seen for the sublime utterance that it is.
What a cast. Vanessa Redgrave. Jane Alexander. Marisa Berenson. Verna Bloom. Melanie Mayron. And a subtle and evocative script by none other than Arthur Miller.
A summary of it sounds unpleasant and harrowing and to a certain extent it is. But there is extraordinary beauty in this daring and unusual picture. A group of women, all musicians, are allowed by the Nazis to remain alive on the condition that they amuse their captors with music.
It simply must be seen, and will never be forgotten. See this picture any way you can. I am sure that in time it will be rediscovered and seen for the sublime utterance that it is.
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